What’s on the The Water Balance poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
Water circulates between atmosphere, surface, soil and sea; a catchment is one accounting unit for it.
- Precipitation is the only input to a catchment
- Evapotranspiration is often the largest loss
- Infiltration decides how much becomes runoff
- Baseflow keeps rivers running between storms
- Urban surfaces cut infiltration to near zero
- Storage smooths the difference between the two
- Balance equation — P = Q + E + ΔS
- Paved catchment runoff — Often above 60%
- Paving a field turns a slow, spread-out response into a sharp flood peak.
Educational reference. Catchment figures are site-specific, and flood estimation follows national hydrological guidance.
Questions about the The Water Balance poster
- What’s on the The Water Balance poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. Water circulates between atmosphere, surface, soil and sea; a catchment is one accounting unit for it. Precipitation is the only input to a catchment; Evapotranspiration is often the largest loss; Infiltration decides how much becomes runoff; Baseflow keeps rivers running between storms; Urban surfaces cut infiltration to near zero; Storage smooths the difference between the two; Balance equation — P = Q + E + ΔS; Paved catchment runoff — Often above 60%; Paving a field turns a slow, spread-out response into a sharp flood peak.. Educational reference. Catchment figures are site-specific, and flood estimation follows national hydrological guidance.
- Who is the The Water Balance poster for?
- The Water Balance belongs to the Civil Engineering section rather than to a school year, because engineering is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning water resources can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the The Water Balance poster?
- Before any runoff estimate, to see which term development actually changes. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so The Water Balance belongs on the wall where that engineering work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with The Water Balance?
- Culvert Design, Continuity & Energy and Groundwater & Wells sit alongside The Water Balance in the Civil Engineering section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Culvert DesignContinuity & EnergyGroundwater & Wells
- Is the The Water Balance poster free to download and print?
- Yes. The Water Balance downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Civil Engineering section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the The Water Balance poster print at?
- The Water Balance is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of The Water Balance loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside The Water Balance on the same wall.
Browse every Civil Engineering poster, or start from the full catalogue.